The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, in a case challenging the state’s legislative district maps. The maps are considered to be some of the most gerrymandered in the country.
The court’s ruling could end more than a decade of Republican dominance. The court heard three hours of arguments. The court’s newly constituted liberal majority appeared poised to strike down the current maps.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the state’s highest court. It consists of seven justices who are elected to 10-year terms in nonpartisan statewide elections. The court has appellate jurisdiction over all Wisconsin courts and can decide which appeals it will hear.
The court’s members are generally considered to have consistent ideological positions. Justices Dallet, Karofsky, Protasiewicz, and Ann Walsh Bradley are often described as liberals. Justices Ziegler, Hagedorn, and Rebecca Bradley are often described as conservatives.
“Let’s be clear here — the maps are rigged, bottom line. Absolutely, positively rigged. They do not reflect the people in this state,” Protasiewicz said during the forum, without saying how she would rule over a potential case.
“They do not reflect accurate representation, neither the state Assembly or the state Senate. They are rigged, period. Coming right out and saying that. I don’t think you could sell to any reasonable person that the maps are fair,” she continued.
Republicans mulled impeaching Protasiewicz in the event that she did not recuse herself from hearing redistricting cases on the high court, though several former justices have argued against pursuing such an effort.
Just one day after Protasiewicz was sworn in, Democratic voters filed the lawsuit aiming to redraw the state’s election maps. Their lawsuit argued the state’s maps as they stand violate the state Constitution because 21 state Senate districts and 55 Assembly districts are noncontiguous, meaning those districts include pockets of land that are not connected to the rest of the district.
The lawsuit also argues that “the maps violate the Constitution’s separation of powers” because the state’s high court last time “imposed the precise maps the Governor vetoed — a veto that the legislature failed to override.”
The hearing at times grew tense as justices grilled attorneys on issues such as how to achieve fair and neutral maps and over their particular definitions.
“What’s an acceptable number of Republican-leaning seats in your view?” conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn pressed Assistant Attorney General Anthony Russomanno.
“Well, your Honor, there’s no line … particular line needs to be drawn. So in this situation where the court would be creating the map and then looking at or looking at proposals, perhaps, and comparing those proposals, it would just be relative,” Russomano said, after being pressed several times.
“So it’d be is this map showing partisan bias more than this map is showing person bias?” Russomano added.
While the redistricting case does not impact Wisconsin’s congressional maps, the potential to redraw all 132 state Senate and Assembly districts could impact Republicans’ hold in the state Capitol. Republicans currently enjoy clear edges in both chambers, with a 22-11 edge in the Senate and 64-35 in the Assembly.
Ahead of the hearing on Tuesday, Heather Williams, the interim president for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), said in a statement that the high court was “long overdue in taking up this case.”
“Wisconsin is one of the worst gerrymandered states in the country and Republicans have robbed voters of true representation for far too long. From an unfair balance in the state legislature to seats in Congress, the path to righting this wrong is clear: if Democrats want progress on redistricting, fair election administration, and expanded voting rights, we must invest in the states,” she said.
